Kink.com Flees CA Condom Rule, Opens in Vegas

Kink.com, one of the country’s most popular online pornography websites, announced Wednesday that is has opened an office in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it has already begun production. The goal, the company says, is to move production away from its home base in California, where an anticipated state law, AB1576, requiring the use of condoms by male actors in all pornography films threatens to damage Kink.com’s business.

“Vegas is looking more and more attractive as time goes by,” said Kink.com founder Peter Acworth in a press release. “The cost of doing business out there is lower. The resources are slowly moving there. It’s becoming easier and easier to do business… I think that a lot of [adult entertainment] companies are doing what we’re doing. They’re setting up satellite offices and getting their feet wet with Vegas as a potential place to shoot.”

AB1576 would expand upon a Los Angeles ordinance, Measure B, passed by voters in 2012. Several Kink.com actors have lobbied against the legislation in Sacramento, to little avail thus far.Acworth’s company has been one of the pioneers in pornography featuring bondage, domination, and sado-masochism (BDSM). Its current headquarters is located inside San Francisco’s historic Armory building. However, Acworth is clearly willing to sacrifice his prestigious location: “We don’t want to move out of California, but we will if we have to,” he says.

Though AB1576 and Measure B have been touted as public health measures, they have also raised free speech concerns. Both were initiated by Aids activists, who may have wanted to use pornography as a way to carry their safe-sex message. The pornography industry contends it can protect actors without new laws or regulations.